Curt Pires and David Rubin’s ‘The Fiction’ Explores the Dangers of Getting Lost in a Book

If you have fond childhood memories of those times you were so immersed in the fantastical world of a favorite book that a whole day seemed to pass you by, Curt Pires and David Rubín's The Fiction, from Boom Studios, may be the perfect series for you. Then again, it may make you rethink where that time went.

The intriguing premise of The Fiction takes that idea of getting lost in a fictional world to an extreme and sinister conclusion. It's the story of a group of friends who once found a set of books that actually allowed them to explore other worlds. But one of them never came back. And now that they're adults, another member of the group has gone missing...

David Rubín

It's a really fascinating idea that should spark the imagination of anyone who was ever a bookish kid (which in my experience is an awful lot of comics readers). With The Unwritten having recently ended its run, there's definitely a vacancy for another series that taps into our fascination with the realness of fiction, and especially one from two rising stars of comics; writer Curt Pires has been getting a lot of attention of late for his series Pop at Dark Horse and Mayday at Black Mask Studios, while David Rubín is perhaps best known for his work on The Rise of Aurora West.

You can see Rubin's character sketches and his issue #1 cover above, plus a variant cover by Tula Lotay below:

What’s to Love: Curt Pires (POP, Mayday) is a fountain of fascinating ideas, and we’re excited to publish his latest offering, The Fiction. Fans of titles like Locke & Key and The Unwritten will take to its story about a group of childhood friends who discover doorways to other worlds through a set of strange books. Bringing this story to life is David Rubín, who Paul Pope dubbed “ ...a big talent and the real deal.”

What It Is: Four childhood friends discover a box of strange books that, when read aloud, can transport them to the beautiful, imaginary worlds described within. But when one of them goes missing, the others vow never to reveal where they’ve been and what they’ve seen. Years later, when one of the remaining kids, now an adult, also mysteriously disappears, it’s up to the last two of the group to dig up their dusty books to find him and finally figure out what happened to their friend all those years ago.